Women's Gymnasts Perform Well At NCAA Championships

By Athletics Communications

University of Oklahoma

APRIL 18, 2002

April 18, 2002

NORMAN, Okla. - Two representatives from the Oklahoma women's gymanstics team, Mariana Goncalves and Kasie Tamayo, performed well in the all-around tonight at the NCAA Championships in Alabama, but did not qualify for the individual event finals or place in the top eight of the all-around. Goncalves scored a 38.625, while Tamayo notched a 39.250.

"They did the best of all the individuals that competed tonight," said OU head coach Steve Nunno. "Kasie was the only person that stuck all of her events. She had the best balance beam routine I've seen her do all year but her score (9.850) didn't reflect that. Mariana started off the night strong but didn't have a great bar routine and fell off the balance beam in her last event."

Without the support of their team members, which they have had all year long, the No. 3 (Goncalves) and No. 10 (Tamayo) all-arounders were not able to pull of career performances tonight at the University of Alabama.

"They looked sharp," added Nunno. "They represented the Big 12 and the University of Okahoma well and ended a great season for our team. Mariana was disappointed to end her career with a fall on the beam, but she has to look at everything she has accomplished this year and throughout her career. She has broken a lot of school records along the way. We were very excited for Kasie tonight. She was great. I think that she went all season without a mistake and only had two as a freshman. She is just the most consistent performer I have ever seen."

The team finals will be tomorrow night at 7 p.m. followed by the individual event finals at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The teams that advance to the Super Six on Friday are Utah, Georgia, Nebraska, Alabama, UCLA and Stanford.

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